52 Ancestors Week 12: 12

Question

Ready for Week 12 of the 52 Ancestors challenge?

Please share with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches the week's theme. This week's sharing prompt:

12

From Amy Johnson Crow:

No, it isn't a typo. The theme for Week 12 really is "12." If you look at a numbered ancestor chart and you're at the beginning of it, #12 is your mother's father's father. You could also write about someone with a birthday or anniversary in December or on the 12th of any month. Be creative!

 

Share below!

Participants who share every week can earn badges. If this is your first time participating, or you don't have the participation badge, please post here. Click here for more about the challenge.

P.S. You can see your numbered ancestor list by clicking the Ancestor List link on your family tree and tools page. 

Answer 1

52 Ancestors Week 12:12

I have several families with 12 children, but that has already been done so I decided to go with Joseph Albert Bydalek.

This week took a lot of research for me.

Joseph was one of ten children born to Michael and Pauline Goschinski Bydalek. He was born in my hometown, Momence,  Kankakee, Illinois, United States on March 3, 1872.

He married Mary Ann Bukowski on Nov 12, 1895 in Momence, Illinois. They had 6 children. They were good Catholics, farmers, and well known in Momence.

Their kids all married good families, and the only connection that Joseph Albert Bydalek has to 12 is that he died on

12-12-1938.

Comments

Thanks for sharing the fruits of your research labor.

Answer 2

George Edward Spaulding

is #12 on my ahnen chart.

Comments

I love seeing the photos of ancestors! This one of your ancestor is great.

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Way to use your ahnen chart.

Answer 3

According to "Marriages Taken from the Delaware Gazette," posted on the amazing Delaware County NY Genealogy and History site, my 4th great-grandparents, Charles M. Dibble and Phebe Tuttle, married on 12-12-1838.

Comments

another good use of 12-12

Answer 4

My dad, Vaughn Hughey, was one of 12 children or Robert Franklin Hughey and Martha Frances Profitt

I was released from US Army active duty in December 1971 to go back to school.  December is the 12th month.  Unfortunately, it wasn't on the 12th cay of that month.

Comments

Glad you made it home safely. Those were hard times for military. Thank you for your service.

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Your dad has something in common with my husband - except my husband was the last of 12. I told him he was just like toilet paper . . .

Answer 5

Joseph Pierre Babineau is my mother's father's father.  He was one of 12 children. Family folklore says he worked on a whaling ship called the Comet when he emigrated to the United States and that he and his wife created the recipe for Manhattan Style Clam Chowder. Fun stories that are just that...fun.  In the U.S. Censuses Pierre wasn't a whaler but a fisherman.  The Comet was a catboat, not the type of ship used for hunting whales.  A brig named the Comet did exist.  It was crushed by ice in an arctic disaster in 1871 long before Pierre left Canada. If a recipe was created to help sell more of his catch, it didn't remain in the family!

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Babineau-179

Comments

Interesting. Isn't it amazing how family "legends" evolve?

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Love your story about "12" Joseph. My husband is also a 12, but the last of the 12.

Answer 6

My twelfth ancestor was also a miner, like Melanie's 12th ancestor. I am sure he set off from Hungary not planning to mine all his life in America but he raised a family of eight children while mining in a lime quarry. He died of black lung disease while labouring at the age of 79. All his siblings died young so he was the only Nagy to survive adulthood. Among his three sons, the last Nagy descendant died last year so that's the end of that Nagy line through Joe Nagy (my great-grandparent). However, last year, I discovered through DNA, that it continues through an Uncle of his! https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Nagy-52/9

Comments

So sorry to hear about your ancestor. I am surprised that he lived to be that old with black lung disease.

I live close to Chicago, and we have a newscaster whose name is Nagy, and of course Matt Nagy is the football coach for the Chicago Bears.  Just an fyi.

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Thanks, Cheryl. There are a lot of Nagys in Chicago! Ohhh yes, my Uncle loved the Chicao Bears 

Answer 7

My #12 is Richard H Miell (1854-1920). He bought the farmland and built the Miell family house in Linn County, Iowa, that remains in the family today. I have memories of days spent there as a child, and quite a few photos of my mother, aunt, grandparents and great grandmother at that house. I believe the house is still standing.

Comments

How cool that you have those memories as a child.

Answer 8

#12 Alfred Pallant. My mothers fathers father is an interesting one for me. Born in Ipswich he is my nearest ancestor born outside of Leicestershire England.

 By the the time he is 5 his father is dead and he is living with his elder brothers family. 

By the time he is 10 his mother has died and the brother he is living with moves his family to New Zealand leaving Alfred behind. 

Then in 1881 he appears in Leicester at a boarding house with another older brother, working in the boot and shoe industry.

He goes on to have 12 children and lives to the age of 70.

He also became the local qwack doctor, treating locals that couldn't afford a real doctor.

Comments

What a sad life this little boy had.

Answer 9

Thomas Long and his wife are the only ancestors 12 generations back that I have been able to document with a reasonable amount of confidence. 

I have found family trees which show other family lines going back further with links to nobility but they are unsourced and very dubious.

Answer 10

52 Ancestors, 52 Surnames.  That's the bar I've set for myself.

Instead of #12 on my ahnentafel, whom I will save for another time, I will cast backward to an ancestor twelve generations before me.  George Mason I https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mason-966 is an ancestor I would not have known except for Wikitree.  The link in his profile to the book "The Five George Masons" allowed me to read the chapter about him.  Not much of his personality was revealed in that source except for his "bottle attendance" while he was being consulted by a man seeking advice on what was to be done about Bacon's Rebellion in Stafford County, Virginia.  Apparently George liked to drink.

I'm descended from his (deduced) second marriage, on which we need better sources.  "The Five George Masons" mentions only the first and third marriages--no mention of a marriage to Margaret Allerton.  It is only through a probate document that it was deduced there must have been a wife in between the two that were named in the biography.

1. Colonel George Mason I and Margaret Allerton
2. Richard Mason and Frances (Unknown) Matheny
3. Frances Mason and John Kirk
4. Thomas Kirk and Margot Duncan
5. John Kirk and Rebecca Rose
6. John Kirk and Eva Nosler
7. Jonathan Kirk and Margaret Sweeten
8. John Wesley Kirk and Catharine Kissinger
9. William Henderson Kirk and Mary Catherine Michael
10. Estella Mary Kirk and Hermon Linn Robe
11. Stanley Linn Robe and Alice Rosetta Mueller
12. Margaret Robe Summitt

    

Answer 11

My #12 is my mom's paternal grandfather Edward Mott. He was born in July 1880. Family lore has it that he doesn't have an actual birth certificate because when he was born, he was so little that the doctor didn't think he'd make it...but he did! According to Ed, his birthday was July 18th, but the county does have a record saying it was actually the 14th. We'll never know for sure! When Ed was just less than 6 months old, his father died of malaria fever, in Iowa of all places (we still aren't sure how that happened!). So, Ed's mother moved to Lake Crystal, MN where some of her family was living. This is where Ed was raised and spent the rest of his life. He was the youngest of the three children born to his parents. His mother remarried when he was 6 years old to Garner Cole. Supposedly, his mother's side of the family were well off and the money was taken by Ed's older brother, a Doctor, and Ed never saw a penny of it.  Ed married Grace Roberts in Lake Crystal and this is where they raised their five children. I always love seeing pictures of Ed alongside his brother-in-laws. Ed was very short in stature and his brother-in-laws were all over 6 feet tall! One of these pictures is on his profile. 

Comments

This is an interesting story that starts out sad, but had me smiling in the end. Thank you!

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So glad this man survived and thrived despite his beginning.

Answer 12

Ok. this is a long list. I decided to go after the twelth ancestors above me counting me as number one and using an Ancestor Chart, going from left to right, which gives the following:

1. Elling Forthun, Norway
2. Hermund Erikson Moen (c 1607-1685), Norway
3. Tobjorn Johannesson Berge (1560-1640), Norway
4. Lars Ottum, Norway
5. Paul Grubrand, Norway
6. Sølfest Nilsson Bolstad (1570-1633), Norway
7. Sølfest Bolstad, Norway
8. Aamund Johnson Fortun (1570-), Norway
9. Ole Kroken, Norway
10. John Eastman, England
11. William Tilton (1586/87- 1652), England
12. Ursula Pycroft, England
13. John Frary (1604-1675), England
14. Prudence Townsend (c 1599-1690), England
15. Robert Daniel (c 1590-1655), England
16. Elizabeth Morse (1606-1643), England
17. Edmund Ingalls (c 1590-1648), England
18. Annis Telbe (1593-aft 1649), England
19. John Osgood (1595-1651), England
20. Sarah Booth (1598-1677), England
21. John Palmer, England
22. William Barksdale (1629-c 1694), England
23. George Boone (1616- ), England
24. Ann Fallace (1625- ) England
25. John Yarnall (1619-1693), England
26. Sarah Unknown
27. Robert Baker, England
28. Mary Uknown
29. Thomas Worrilow (1636-1709), England
30. Grace Joan Perkes (btwn 1640/44 - 1700) England
31. George Maris (1932-1706), England
32. Alice Willsmith (1632-1699) England
33. John Collins (1610-1670), England
34. Hannah Porter (c 1618 -) England
35. Governor William Leete (1613-1683), England
36. Anna Payne (1621-1668), England
37. William Chittenden (1594-1661), England
38. Joanna Shaefe (1613- 1668), England
39. William Hyde (1583-1681), England
40. Thomas Lee (1613- 1645), England
41. Phoebe Brown (1620- 1664), England
42. Hugh Calken (1600-1690), England
43. Ann Unknown
44. Robert Royce
45. Mary Unknown
46. Matthew Woodruff (1612-1682)
47. Hannah Unknown
48. John North
49. Mary Bird
50. John Taylor
51. Thankful Woodward
52. Ozias Goodwin (1596-1683), England
53. Mary Woodward (c 1607-bef 1640), England
54. John Porter, (1594-1648), England
55. Anna White (1600- ) England
56. Timothy Stanley (1600-1663) England
57. Elizabeth Unknown (c 1602 - 1679), England
58. Thomas Bird
59. Thomas Woodford (1612-1667), England
60. Mary Blott (1609-1660), England
61. Thomas Newell (1611-1689), England
62. Rebecca Olmstead (c 1620-1698) England
63. William Peck (1601-1694), England
64. Elizabeth Unknown ( - 1683), England
65. William Parker (c 1614 - 1686)
66. Margaret Pritchard (1620-1680)
67. Nicholas Satterley
68. Richard Lanpheare
69. Averine Unknown
70. John Bentley (1608- )
71. Mary Betts
72. William Eldred
73. Ann Lumpkin
74. George Soule (btwn 1593/1600-bef 1680), England
75. Mary Bucket ( - 1676) England
76. Henry Rowley (1600-1673) England
77. Probably Ann Palmer ( 1610-1633), England
78. Matthew Fuller (1603 - ) England
79. Frances Unknown ( c 1605-1678), England
80. John Porter (1594-1648), England
81. Anna White (1600-  ) England

and 150 more names. (I should have stopped sooner)

If, on the other hand, I had started with my parents, I would only have add 192 names. But not tonight.

Comments

Shall I just reduce the list of names?

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Wow! That's a lot of ancestors!

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I've been researching for 35 years and I've been very lucky in my ancestors and my sources.

Answer 13

My 12th great grandfather on my paternal line (assuming I counted correctly) is William Dalton, born before 1513 in Lancashire, England. 

His will begins, “In the name of god Amen. I William Dalton of Bispham in ye County of Lancs. Esq. 28th November in the year of Henry VIII ye 35th and in the year of our lord 1543 my testament and last will duly made in manner and form following first I ordayne Jane my wife my Executrix.”

Answer 14

First of all, my mother's father's father is Albert VanBeuren Shelton who lived to be 96, spent 55 years teaching Sunday School and passed away a few years before I was born. Of his 5 children born to him and his 1st wife, Nora Berry, only my grandfather, Winfred Cleveland Shelton, lived into adulthood. They lost 3 children as babies and a single daughter gave birth to a son and she passed away shortly thereafter. She was a teenager.

Second, I have the following birthdays on the 12th in my mother's lines:

Jan 12, 1776 - Rebecca Compton, wife of 5th great-uncle, Joshua Jordan.

Feb 12, 1899 - Mamie E. Melton, 3rd cousin 1x removed.

Mar 12, 1810 Elizabeth Lucinda Berry, 3rd great-aunt.

Mar 12, 1836 - Joseph Zealot Shelton, 3rd great-uncle.

Apr 12, 1777 - Solomon Brandenburg, 5th great-uncle.

Apr 12, 1794 - Solomon Preston Brandenburg, 1st cousin 5x removed.

May 12 - Nobody

Jun 12, 1952 - Thomas Dean Shelton, my deceased 1st cousin.

Jul 12, 1811 - Hannah Yates Shelton, 1st cousin 5x removed.

Aug 12, 1866 - John T. Melton, 2nd cousin 2x removed.

Sep 12, 1837 - Thomas M. Marks, father-in-law of 1st cousin 3x removed, Margara Jane Higginson.

Oct 12, 1783 - Nancy Kitching, 5th great-aunt.

Nov 12, 1870 - Lucinda J. Shelton, 3rd cousin 3x removed

Dec 12, 1798 -  William Allen Shelton, 1st cousin 5x removed.

I thought this was a great way to represent the number 12.

Answer 15

My number 12 is Albert Charles Sailing.  He was born in England and named after his older brother who died young.  His mother passed away also, when he was only 2.  Sometime later he moved to Australia.

While working at the Port Pirie smelter, he was fired from the day shift and so fronted up at the night shift under the false name of Jack Lawrence.  After returning from WW1 (where he met his wife in London) he was unable to claim accumulating wages from the smelter as his real name did not match their records.

Albert died on the 12th May, which is also my birthday, though a couple of years before I came along.

Answer 16

My mother's father's father is Fred Orange Pinckney.   He clocks another 12 for having died in December.  I have vivid memories of that, because he was visiting our house at Christmas, and he died of a heart attack on Christmas day.  It was at breakfast, and he had just eaten a piece of bacon when he started choking.  For the longest time, I thought it was the bacon that got him.  RIP great grandpa.

Comments

How horrible for you and your family to lose a loved one on Christmas day.

Answer 17

The 12th person listed on my off-line family tree is my paternal grandfather; Ernest Henry Wilkins (known as Ern). I never met dad's dad, but have a few of his things - birthday cards, wood-working tools etc. He had different jobs at two of the area's biggest employers - the pipe works and colliery (where he worked above ground). The lasting impression I have is that he was very determined in his views - on my Aunt's choice of husband, and that my dad should never work "down pit" (underground).
 

Answer 18

My 12X great Grandfather, Sir John Brooke, 7th Baron Cobham, Kent, England. 

Son and heir of Edward Brooke and Elizabeth de Audley. 

Husband of Margaret Neville, daughter of Sir Edward Neville and Katherine Howard.

They had eight sons and ten daughters, including:
Sir Thomas, 8th Lord Cobham
Sir Edward
George
Leonard
Mary, wife of Robert Blagge, John Barrett & Sir Richard Walden
Faith

John was knighted at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, summoned to Parliament 1472 to 1511, journied to France on an expedition in 1475, present at the coronation of King Richard III in 1483 and of Queen Elizabeth Plantagenet in 1487. Present at the Seige of Boulogne, defeated the Cornish at Blackhearth, where his cousin, Lord Audley, was taken prisoner and executed.

Answer 19

My Great(4) Grandfather, Augustine Sims, is believed to have had 12 children.  They have not all been added to WikiTree yet, since I am still sourcing them.

Augustine was also one of my numerous "Patriot" ancestors used to join the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Answer 20

#12 on my chart is my great-grandfather Ephraim Hart (1842-1914) who lived most of his life in Shiawassee County, Michigan.  I'm looking at a ten year period early in his life that had to have been extremely difficult. 

The 1860's were a turbulent time for the extended Hart family.  At the beginning of the decade when the 1860 US Census was taken, Ephraim's parents, Joel and Laura (Shipman) Hart, were living on a farm with a value of $600 in Venice Township, Shiawassee, Michigan with their eight children, Horace, Ephraim, Laurilla, Andrus, Justin, Adin, Sylvester and Luana, born between 1841 and 1854.

The family tree is a bit intertwined.  Joel's brother Jospeh Hart had married Laura's sister Nancy Shipman. In 1842, their father Horace Hart had married as his third wife, Dolly (Bragg), sister of Betsey (Bragg) Shipman.  Betsey was the mother of Laura and Nancy.

The year 1862 began badly, Laura and Nancy's youngest brother, Roswell Shipman, had enlisted in the the Company G of the 3rd Michigan Cavalry  in December of 1861.  Their brother Seymour had enlisted in the same unit in September of 1861.  Roswell died of disease at St. Louis, Missouri in January before he ever got to a battlefield. 

Ephraim's father Joel died in March of 1862 leaving pregnant Laura a widow.  Joel Almer Hart was born 3 August 1862.  Then, Ephraim's older brother, Horace age 21, enlisted in Company D of the 6th Michigan Cavalry 30 August 1862.  This left nineteen year old Ephraim as the oldest child at home.

Unfortunately, 1863 continued the string of losses.  Ephraim's mother Laura died in March of 1863 leaving the baby and eight other orphaned children.  It isn't clear what happened next.  Ephraim's sister Laurilla was eighteen when her mother died and may have taken over the household. Ephraim and his uncle Joseph Hart were made guardians of the children.

Then came the Battle of Gettysburg with many Michigan casualties,  Horace died of wounds the 3rd of July near Hanover, Pennsylvania.  His uncle, Seymour Shipman, was also wounded 2nd of July at Hunterstown, Pennsylvania, but survived.

In August, Ephraim's next younger brother, 17 year old Andrus died.  This left three young boys, 15, 13 and 11 to help him on the farm.

His grandfather Horace Hart died in 1867 and his remaining Hart uncles also died, Lewis in 1868 and Joseph in 1870.  Possibly this is why Ephraim in 1868 applied for a military pension for the children who were still minors based on Horace's Civil War service. 

By the 1870 census, Ephraim and Laurilla had both married; Justin and Adin were farm laborers living in their employers' households, Sylvester and Joel were living in the household of their aunt, Nancy (Hart) Young.  And, Luana's location at that time is unknown.  She was 16 and probably was working out as a hired girl in the area as in 1876, she was married in Shiawassee County.